“Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.” Mark 15: 43-47
“Wait for the Lord;be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14
“ … weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5b
“Be still and know that I am God …” Psalm 46:10
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It’s the day in between the weeping of the crucifixion and the joy of resurrection.
If crucifixion is the departure point and the resurrection is the destination, you have to go through Holy Saturday. It is the day, that by its very nature, calls us to slow down and wait.
Holy Saturday is the mean time, in between time ……. things always happen in the meantime, in between time.
It is the day where it seems that nothing is happening yet everything is happening at the same time. Jesus is in the tomb and all appears hidden. But just because something is hidden, doesn’t mean It’s not important. There is holiness in the hidden. There is power in what we can’t see.
Holy Saturday makes us wait, we can’t edit, delete or go around it. We try to do busy work, yet it calls us to be still and ….. wait. We can’t pay extra for rush delivery or Prime Status … we have to wait.
Holy Saturday calls us to wait and it’s inconvenient …. But we are called to wait and sit in this place. One of my lessons from hospital chaplaincy is that sometimes I was called to just be fully present and sit with others in their grief, the loss, anger and unknown. Holy Saturday calls us to sit in the grief, sit in the loss, the anger and the unknown.
It seems like for the last year we’ve been in an extended Holy Saturday holding pattern. Waiting in the midst of the unknown. This year has made us sit in the uncomfortable and the unknown. It seems like an extended pause. Yet Holy Saturday invites us to do just that … wait.
There’s power in the hidden, when it seems like nothing is happening, yet everything is happening at the same time. The caterpillar cannot transform into the butterfly without being the darkness of the cocoon. Photos have been developed in darkrooms. The seeds can’t bear fruit until they are buried into the depths of the soil.
There is holiness in the hidden and power in what we can’t see.
But it calls us to wait…
Take time to wait on this Holy Saturday … take the time to sit in the tomb that will lead to your resurrection.
Resurrection is coming, but don’t dismiss and rush the wait. But Holy Saturday always precedes the Resurrection.
